The Yellow Ring
by Jaswinder
Summary: Ryou Bakura was a lonely, bored kid. No friends, absent parents, he spent most of his time staring at walls. In fact, it was starting to drive him a little crazy... Completed!
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:** Uh.. hey. This is my first YGO fanfic, and my first fanfic in a while. And.. I'm not entirely sure what this story will be about. It's yet another one of those stories where Ryou is given his ring for the first time, Yami Bakura shows up, and all kinds of crazy shizzit happens, but I wanted to make it a little more detailed than most. I've seen a lot of fics where Bakura just POPS out of the ring and Ryou all but takes it in stride - personally, I think coming into the possession of an item possessed by an evil spirit, which in turn possesses you, calls for a lot more psychological drama. 

It was also sort of inspired by the short story _The Yellow Wallpaper_ by Charlotte Gilman, a first person account of a woman slowly going insane - hence the title. While I'm really fond of shounen-ai and Ryou/Bakura is my favorite pairing, I'm not sure if this will end up that way or not. From what I've seen of the show, it's hard to tell where Ryou ends and his yami begins - maybe it's just because he doesn't have a transformation animation like Yugi, but still.

I'll probably stray from the absolute manga cannon understanding of some things and in certain details (there's even an original character, omg! Don't worry, she's just a cat.) but hopefully everyone's in character. But - I might not make Yami Bakura as bloodyminded and psychopathic as some would like. Why's that? Don't worry, he'll explain it to Ryou himself.

Anyway! Naturally, I don't own YGO or any of these characters or concepts. Those belong to Mr. Takahashi and probably Viz and 4Kids to some extent.

**Prologue**

A searing, sand-choked gust of wind blasted through the bazaar, upsetting and overturning a few of the lighter wares out on display in the hand-built stands - but everyone and everything here was more than used to sand, wind and heat. 

The archeologist had to pause, smiling as he took in the scene with a touch of nostalgia. It looked as though it could have come straight out of one of the many cinematic adventures in the Near-Orient that had been so popular when he was a child. Those movies had a hand in inspiring his lifelong obsession with this ancient part of the world, the cradle of civilization - the home of Sumer, Babylon, but most of all, Egypt.

His father had been similarly enraptured with the land of the Nile; in fact, he came from a line of explorers, anthropologists and Egyptologists that could be traced back to Victorian times. But his own son had never taken up the family interest, and his father couldn't imagine why.

So the archeologist had hoped getting his son a gift at this rural, Egyptian bazaar might inspire some fascination with the land it came from. Part of him wanted to take the extra effort to get to Cairo, go to a real store and get him a real gift - it was his son's seventeenth birthday, afterall - but that was hours away from the dig site, and he suspected a mass-produced souvenir would lack the charm of a locally hand-crafted trinket. 

He perused the selection of shops, and found little but pottery, cloths and silks, and camels. Disappointment started to set in, as not surprisingly, most of the shops only sold _practical_ items. He was about to give in to temptation and go to the capitol when one small shop, off to the side and wedged between a few far larger ones, caught his eye.

Or rather, something laying on the table did. Drawn to it magnetically, he stared into the stylized eye set into the middle of a dull golden triangle. It looked like some sort of metal wall decoration, and stood out from the knock-offs and cheap rubbish that surrounded it, despite its wear. The triangle was in the middle of a large ring, and off of the ring hung several odd little pendulums that jangled softly when he lifted it. There was a loop at the top, but any cord that might have been in it was long gone - it was dingy and scuffed, though he suspected it may have looked like gold at one point, it was undoubtedly a reproduction of some sort. The symbol and decoration didn't seem indicative of any time period or Egyptian dynasty he was familiar with, though...

"You like the ring?" The thick, accented voice of the shopkeeper spoke up, rousing the archeologist out of the trance he had slipped into. "It is very cheap," the keeper urged, a tone of desperation creeping into his voice. Puzzled, the archeologist glanced between the shopkeep and the ring - why would he be so eager to get rid of it? Was it stolen? Even if it was, it hardly seemed to be anything of a value worth stressing over.

"Please!" A haunted look came over the shopkeep's dark features, and he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a few Arabic Duel Monsters cards. The archeologist's eyebrows shot up - those, at least, his son _was_ interested in, and since most countries in this part of the world had banned them, they were quite rare. "I will even throw in some of these. Just, please buy." A strange expression crossed the shopkeeper's face, and his voice changed slightly, becoming more monotone, "Your son would like it very much."

The archeologist stared in disbelief. A cold chill ran down his spine, and the air seemed to still. The sudden tension made him hesitant to question the oddity of the situation, and he quickly handed over the amount of money marked on a small paper tag attached to the ring. Mechanically, he walked off, the pendulums of the ring clinking together musically.

The shopkeeper let out a sigh of relief once the archeologist took that accursed ring away. He felt genuinely sorry for his customer's son. He didn't know why the ring was so insistent on being sold just then, or why it was attached to those cards, but it had been screaming at him the entire time, in its voiceless, silent way. Nor did he know why the archeologist had seemed unaware of the bad vibes everyone else that came in contact with that thing felt. The ring had been ruining his business since it and the cards it had with it came into his acquisition months ago. 

But it was gone, and that's all that mattered to the shopkeeper.

And all that mattered to Dr. Bakura was that he now had a gift for his son.   



	2. Part 1

The house was empty, but that was nothing new. The only sounds were voices from the television, and the soft sigh of a lonely soul. 

Ryou stared at the television, but he had stopped watching a while ago. He wasn't depressed, not at all - simply very bored. Television got boring quickly, even when there _was_ something on worth watching, but at least it filled the dead, hollow house with some sound. 

It didn't really help that this was a particularly bad house to be alone in. His father had brought home all kinds of curious souvenirs from his countless excursions, the feathered masks of African shaman and macabre folk-art from Mexico. His father traveled a lot, probably for the other reason this was a lonely house - there were as many memories of his mother to be found in the rooms and hallways as there were foreign statuettes and carvings. 

There were no photographs, though. Afterall, she wasn't dead - she was just gone.

That probably didn't bother Ryou as much as it did his father. He was only a toddler when she left and took a sibling he never met with her back to Britain, a sibling which, last he heard, had gotten picked up by the law for shoplifting. 

He wondered if his mother remembered it was his birthday. A slight sadness settled into his chest - he wondered if his _father_ remembered. That was the second year in a row his father hadn't been home, and he didn't always manage to send a gift from whatever exotic locale he was staying at. 

Ryou had gotten himself a gift last year - she was currently sleeping on the futon, long, fluffy white tail curled around her. Angora had been only a kitten when Ryou found her wandering around outside the high school, looking ragged, starved and pitiful. 

So the only one attending his birthday party was a sleeping, half-grown stray cat. That was alright - he wasn't much for parties anyway. Not that he had been to enough to be able to judge...

A knock at the door disrupted his depressing thoughts, and a puzzled look crossed his face. Who on Earth would that be? He turned off the television, stood up and went to the door, opening it - he was greeted with a clipboard being stuffed into his face. 

"Package for Ryou Bakura!" The mail carrier announced, and Ryou nodded slightly, signing his name and taking the thin box, mumbling a thanks under his breath. Closing the door behind him, he studied the package, testing its weight. It was in an overnight mail box and plastered with stamps, though the sending date indicated that it had been about a day late. 

He wandered into the kitchen. There was far too much tape on it for him to hope to open it without some bladed assistance, as much as he detested knives. Ryou set the package down on the counter and slid a thin steak knife beneath one of the flaps, and he had it nearly opened without incidence when the knife slipped and cut a thin red mark near the base of his thumb. The boy let out a soft hiss of pain, clutching his hand and grimacing at the small drops of blood that welled up along the small cut. He hated blood, which is why he hated knives - he had an uncanny knack for slicing himself more than anything else.

But he would treat the cut later. He was too curious to see what his father had gotten him. He pulled back a wad of tissue paper, and found a folded piece of paper, and upon opening it, a few cards fell out - Duel Monsters cards, only they had Arabic scrawled on them instead of familiar English or Japanese characters.

_Dear Ryou,_

I hope this doesn't arrive too late. I found this... ring, I guess you could call it, in a local bazaar near the dig site. The shopkeeper gave me these cards, too - I figured you probably didn't have any Arabic cards in your collection! I wish I could give you more information about this, but the shopkeeper seemed too eager to sell it to give me any sort of back story. It's probably just a reproduction that needs to be cleaned up, but I've never seen anything quite like it before. Maybe you'll find some use for it. 

Best birthday wishes,   
Dad.

Ryou set the letter down and continued rifling around the box, before his hand hit something cool and metallic - he wrapped his fingers around it, and pulled out the oddest trinket he had ever seen.

The design reminded him of some sort of odd, metallic dream-catcher. The loop at the top indicated that it was suppose to be hung up on something - maybe it served a similar function. The eye wrought into the metal in the very center of the thing was oddly mesmerizing, and it almost seemed to gleam despite how badly in need of a polishing it was. Usually, he didn't have much interest in all of the strange treasures his father took from far away lands - but there was something different about this ring. He could have sworn it seemed to grow warmer in his grasp...

He felt something cool trickle down his hand, and realized that the cut was bleeding. Scowling, he lifted his hand to examine the small wound, and the motion caused a few drops of blood to trickle onto the ring. Normally, he wouldn't have paid any attention - except for the fact that, for a brief moment, the ring glowed.

Ryou was so surprised that he dropped the ring onto the counter with a clatter, causing the pendulums that hung from its rim to jangle and clink against the wood. He stared at the ring, unblinking - but the glow was gone, and he was already starting to doubt whether he had actually seen it at all. Hesitantly, he reached out and tapped the ring with his finger - nothing but cold, dead metal. 

A strange sense of dread started to mount in the back of his mind, and he quickly turned to the sink to wash off his hand and the cut. He disposed of the box and the tissue paper, putting the cards and letter into his pants pocket. Soon, it was only the ring laying on the counter, the dead eye carved in the center staring up at the ceiling, a few of the pendulums dangling over the edge.

Ryou didn't want to touch it, but he quickly shook off the irrational fear. His dad had brought far more disturbing things home, there was no reason an oversized piece of jewelry should make him jumpy. It was probably just late - and he had school tomorrow.

After only a moment of hesitation, he reached out to grab the ring and headed upstairs.

***  


_Even a dim light became blinding after an eon of darkness._

Had it really been that long, or even longer? He didn't know, and didn't really care. Time meant nothing to an immortal spirit in an immortal realm. 

Either way, it was the first light he had seen in a long time. It was only a trickle, only a tiny sliver of white in an ocean of shadows, and it had been extinguished as quickly as it had appeared. For that brief moment in time, though, he had nearly been blinded by its presence. 

He knew what it meant. Afterall, he had had forever to explore this realm of dreams and nightmares, transverse the paths forged by other souls. He had even met a few, and over time he had learned about this strange place and how to harness its powers and the creatures that lived within it. Mastering it kept his interest for the first few thousand years, but by now it was dull and oppressive - just a vast ethereal catacomb, a tomb for his soul.

But any tomb there was a way into, there was a way out of. He knew that more than anyone.

And if anyone could find it, it would be him. 


	3. Part 2

**Author's Notes:** Well, here's the second part. I'm surprised I got so many reviews on the first day. o_o; I'm not sure how regularly I'll update this, but I'll try to keep the parts short, so that'll hopefully keep me writing.

Not much happens in this chapter except a lot of stressing-out of poor Ryou. Um.. since someone asked, the cat's probably a little over than a year old. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but. o_O;

----

_BRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIING!_

The alarm clock tore Ryou out of sleep, and he sat up like a shot, heart hammering in his ears. He looked around wildly for a moment, before he realized he was no longer dreaming.

The alarm had startled him far more than it should have. He reached over, fumbling for the sleep function and letting out a weary sigh once it was silenced. He was still filled with an inexplicable anxiety, nearly to the point of queasiness, that just wouldn't listen to reason. He had no major tests today, he had done all his homework - what was he worried about? Maybe it was a dream he had... but all of his memories of any dreams had been shattered by the loud ring of his alarm.

He glanced at his dresser, and nearly jumped when he saw the ring sitting on it, propped up against the wall. The stylized eye was staring _straight at him_. And for the life of him, Ryou couldn't remember sitting it up like that, in plain view. He thought he stuffed it in some drawer...

A chilling tendril of fear slowly wound its way down his spinal column and constricted his breathing. He flung the covers off, and he was tempted to bolt out of the room - but he couldn't go to school in his pajamas. He needed clothes, and those were in his dresser. 

And they were being guarded by the ring.

Ryou shook his head violently. This was nonsense. He forced himself to walk over to his dresser, but made sure to avoid 'eye contact' with the ring as he did. But even staring at the floor, he could feel its inanimate gaze boring into his forehead...

Unbidden, one of his hands suddenly shot out and smacked it off the dresser. 

It fell to the floor with a chorus of jingles, the pendulums laying in a disarray around the ring once it landed. Just like any piece of jewelry. Inhaling through his teeth, Ryou stared down at it.

The eye stared right back. Its gaze had never faltered.

Ryou pulled an outfit out of his dresser drawers in record time, and headed into the bathroom across the hall. There was no way he could dress with that _thing_ watching.  


***

School was uneventful, as it always was. Not even the bullies paid him much attention, aside from a few crude remarks about his hair and his overwhelming lack of masculinity. They had other kids to keep themselves occupied with, other kids to beat up and taunt endlessly. 

It figured, Ryou would think to himself bitterly. Not even the bullies could be bothered to acknowledge his existence. 

Sometimes, he felt like a ghost...

He opened the door to his house, and was hit with an odd sensation as soon as he crossed the threshold. He paused in the doorway, blinking.

The house was silent. Usually, he left the TV on to discourage burglars, but it was more for his benefit than anything else. However, he had been in such a hurry to leave in the morning he had forgotten. He hated coming home to such a quiet, empty place. 

But this time, it did not feel empty. 

His blood froze. Had someone broke in? He closed the door as silently as he could, his eyes darting around. With slow, measured steps, and started inspecting every room. But not a thing was out of place, and the only other living souls in the house were Angora and a spider that lived in the pantry.

Ryou's inspection brought him to the door of his room. The presence felt strongest here. He reached out to turn the knob with a shaking hand, absolutely certain he was going to find someone on the other side of the door. With a sudden rush of adrenaline, he threw the door open.

"Who's there?!" He did his best to sound intimidating as he burst into his room, glancing around and clutching his backpack like a shield. 

No one. His room was as empty and bland as it always was. His dresser drawers were still hanging open, his bed was unmade, and his half-sorted collection of Duel Monsters cards was still laid out across his desk, exactly as he had left them. Not even the haphazard pile of books on his night stand had been touched.

He was starting to feel rather foolish, when his eyes fell upon the tip of a gold pendulum that was visible beside his dresser, the rest of the ring hidden. Ryou's heart skipped a beat. He had been so feeling sorry for himself after school that he had forgotten all about the ring. He dropped his book bag and started backtracking.

And then an inhuman screech rang out directly behind him. 

Letting out a yelp of his own, he tumbled back onto the floor and felt something furry shoot past his feet. Panicking, he looked around wildly for his assailant, only to see Angora sitting at the end of the hallway, looking rather miffed and trying to groom herself back to composure. 

Ryou shook his head and tried to catch his breath, running his fingers through his hair. His nerves were frayed, and he felt nauseous, a highly unpleasant combination of hunger and anxiety threatening to eject the contents of his stomach. 

He stumbled to his shaky feet and tried to make his way down the stairs without falling. Maybe some food and a few hours in front of the idiot box would numb his mind enough to calm him down.

***

_Mortals and their worthless emotions. If he still had a body, it would have made him sick. _

He was starting to get impatient. This realm was getting more and more cramped as time went on - the very fact that he was becoming aware of the passage of time signaled that it was all coming to a head, but he didn't know the details.

His control and understanding of the world outside his prison was limited. It was like trying to grope through an unfamiliar room in the dark without any hands - only instead of rooms, they were minds. It had taken him centuries to learn how to do something as meager as reach out and manipulate emotion of the subconscious minds that brushed against his prison. He wasn't even suppose to be able to get that far. 

It was frustrating. He had been able to manipulate anyone he wanted when he was alive, to get anything he wanted - and now all he could do was push a few buttons in their subconscious and hope_ that the emotions he triggered got them to do some semblance of what he had in mind._

Not that controlling base emotions didn't have its advantages. He had known, long before he was ever trapped here, what a wonderful tool fear could be. He employed it regularly then, and he used it now. Unfortunately, it made people act unpredictably. 

And perhaps, this time, fear was the wrong approach. Afterall, it was only effective on those that had something to lose, and what brief glimpse he had gotten of this particular mind told a pitiful story of loneliness and depression. This soul had already been mostly broken before he even got here. It would make things so much simpler.

Once that mind was gone, once the soul was shattered, he would have nothing standing in his way of freedom. The challenge of what lay before him was tantalizing. 

It would be the first time he stole a body.  



	4. Part 3

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for the reviews, guys. I wish this story wasn't so _action-packed_ /sarcasm, but considering it was inspired by a story that involved little more than a woman lying in bed staring at a wall, I'd say it's not too bad. This is the last chapter where Ryou fools around with the ring - in the next one, we'll actually get to see our favorite tomb-robber start to make his appearance, albeit a subtle one.

One of the reviewers said there were some grammatical mistakes.. sorry about that. *sweatdrop* I try my best, but I've been out of school for a long time, so my grammar's probably rusty. At least I have a spellchecker..   
_____

After hours of toiling, Ryou had come to an ineffable conclusion.

There simply was no way to play Solitaire with Duel Monsters cards. 

He had been play-testing his little idea for hours after he had fixed himself a TV dinner. He tried assigning the different types of cards as different suits, tried using the attack points as their number - but it was hopeless. 

Ryou sighed, gathering the cards he had spread across the coffee table up and shuffling them back into his deck. He always carried around his deck, composed of his favorite cards, on the off chance that by some miracle he suddenly got the courage to challenge one of his school-mates. He had collected the cards for some time now, since the character design and art on the cards intrigued him, and the rules were simple enough. Yet, he had never actually dueled with another living person, only in video and computer games based on Duel Monsters. 

He knew plenty of people at Domino high school were avid players. He knew he could even potentially make a few friends - or even just one - if he took the risk. But every time he tried, words and courage failed him. He didn't even dare go near the crowded tables where duels were held during lunch. At least the spectacle made for a lot of empty tables, allowing him to eat in peace.

Peace and solitude.

When was the last time he had eaten a meal with another human being?

_Oh, stop it,_ he thought to himself, lounging back on the futon in front of the television. He hated falling into self-pity. He knew he had a downright enviable existence - outside school, he had all the time in the world he wanted to do whatever he pleased. He had a house all to himself, no job to go to. No siblings to bother him, no parents to lord over him. He was certain most of his classmates would kill for a lifestyle such as his.

But would they, if it meant not being able to remember the last time he had a conversation with one of his peers...?

Ryou pushed his white bangs out of his face and glanced over to a clock. Spiraling into melancholy usually signaled that it was time for him to go to bed. His mind running on auto-pilot, he turned off the television, set out some water for the cat, and headed upstairs. 

He was so out of it that all of his previous anxiety concerning the ring had been forgotten - he spotted it out of the corner of his eye, blinking in surprise. It was still on the floor, but now the ominous feeling it gave off was severely dulled. Maybe he was just too tired to be afraid, but as he stared at it, and that carved eye stared back, he started to get uneasy once again...

"That's it," he scowled slightly, fighting off his hesitation and leaning down to pick up the ring, scrutinizing it, "I'm not going to let you do this to me!" However, his attempt at sounding imposing had fallen rather, short thanks to his quavering voice. He sighed, realizing he was trying to threaten a piece of metal in the first place. 

But at least he hadn't run out of the room and tripped over the cat this time. Ryou shook the ring slightly, listening to the pendulums clink together. Somehow, it didn't seem quite as terrifying as it had before. He tried to set it atop his dresser, propping it up against the wall, but it refused to stay upright. Besides, now that it wasn't freaking him out for no reason, he wanted to study the odd design.

Ryou ran his fingers over the cool surface of the ring, frowning and rubbing his index finger and thumb together as grime came off on them. The ring did look rather dull and old - maybe if it was cleaned up, it wouldn't look quite so ancient and potentially haunted.

He set out on a short expedition through the house, carrying the ring with him and looking for the metal polish-dash-cleaner he knew his father kept somewhere, which was suppose to take years off of jewelry. Rifling through the drawers in his father's bedroom, he finally located the small tub, along with other assorted knickknacks. The ingredients in hand, he headed down to the kitchen to pour the polish mixture into a bowl with some water, got a wash rag, and set to work cleaning off the old ring.

The difference was immediately noticeable. The polish worked rather well, revealing a gleaming, golden surface hidden beneath the layers of age and grime with minimal effort. Within only a few minutes, he had finished the entire ring, making each of its pendulums and every nook and cranny of the stylized eye shine as though it were new. 

Ryou stood back, smiling slightly at his accomplishment. The ring certainly looked better now, and he might have even called it pretty if he hadn't been a somewhat self-conscious teenage boy. He glanced over at the other item he had brought with him - a long length of leather cord. With that loop at the top, the ring all but begged to be hung up on something. He strung the cord through the loop and tied it securely, lifting it up to test its weight and strength.

It was perfect. Part of him even wanted to set the cord around his neck and wear the ring as a ridiculously oversized pendant, and he shook his head at himself. Was this the same thing he was too terrified of to simply touch only hours ago? Ryou felt downright silly about that now. It was a nice ring, and certainly the best thing his father had given him. Instead of making him feel edgy, the slight presence the ring seemed to have was almost... comforting. 

In some small way, he didn't feel quite so alone anymore.

He put his materials way, and took the ring upstairs with him. When he tried to set it on the dresser this time, it sat in place without a fight. And he went to bed, with the eye watching him.

But this time, it almost felt like it was watching over him instead...

***  


  
_It had been a long time since the King of Thieves had tried to comfort a young boy. In fact, this was the likely first time he had even attempted._

And it would certainly be the last. It simply was not in his nature to trigger people's positive_ emotions, but it seemed much more effective than fear had been. He was going to free himself, no matter what that entailed - and if he had to appeal to the wishes of a lonely child to do that, so be it. _

That didn't mean the boy wasn't still so pathetic it disgusted him, though. It was an insult that this boy was one of his descendants. 

Or was it just that the boy reminded him of himself as a child that made him uneasy?

He dismissed the thought angrily. The boy's personality meant nothing. Soon it would be gone, and he would be nothing more than a shell, a vessel, and he was perfect for his purposes, really. The fact that few acknowledged the boy's existence only meant it would be easier for him to change or disappear, without anyone noticing or especially caring.

How he loathed to be saddled with such a weak spirit, though... taking him over wouldn't be much of a challenge at all. After countless centuries of being trapped, he had hoped for a more dramatic escape.

And besides, what was the fun in stealing something no one cared enough to miss?  



	5. Part 4

**Author's Notes:** Finally, some action. o_o Ryou _finally_ puts on the blasted ring and his Yami finally gets to stretch his legs.

I'm sorry these things are short, but I really doubt I'd be as motivated to update this thing quickly (I don't think one chapter every day or every other day is too bad...) or to even work on it at all if they were much longer than this. Writing doesn't really come naturally to me, I kind of have to sit myself down and make myself do it. I think this part is a little bit longer, though. I really didn't realize that these parts were so much smaller than what's expected, and I apologize, but I'm glad that seems to be the only complaint. o_o; Again, thanks for the reviews, and if you really want to speed me up and make these longer, keep them coming. I think I work best under pressure. c_c

----

The morning light clawed at Ryou's eyelids, and he stirred, yawning groggily - but it was the fact something warm and breathing was beside him on the pillow that really made him wake up. He sat up quickly and looked around, clutching his blankets, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw it was only a familiar white ball of fluff sitting on his pillow, looking at him expectantly. Angora meowed up at him, impatient for her breakfast.

"You really must stop doing that, my nerves have been bad enough lately..." he laughed softly, gathering the cat up in his arms and stroking her. She let out a quiet purr, and was quite content to be carried as he shuffled out of bed.

Something made him pause in the middle of the room, though - his eyes wandered over to the dresser. As he had come to expect, the emotionless golden eye was staring at him unblinkingly as Angora twitched her long tail back and forth against his night shirt. It didn't seem to bore into his soul quite like it had before, though, and without thinking he walked over and slipped the leather cord around his neck, shaking his hair out of the way.

It felt right, somehow, and in the back of his mind he wondered how he had been able to stand not having the comfortable weight hanging from his neck before. A strange, almost electrical sensation seemed to course outwards from the ring's place against his chest, giving him a jolt of energy. It was better than caffeine. 

But not everyone was so pleased. As soon as one of its pendulums brushed against Angora's back, she let out a feral hiss and launched herself away from Ryou, raking his arms with her claws in the process. She hit the ground running.

"Ow! Angora, what's the matter with you?" Ryou winced, holding his arm and glaring slightly at where the cat had been. She had left three long, shallow cuts in her wake, and small beads of blood had started to well up along the dotted cuts. He didn't have anything to wipe it off with, and he certainly wasn't going to use his shirt...

It was only a moment after the fact that Ryou realized he had lifted his arm up and proceeded to lick his wounds. 

Sputtering, he tore his arm away from his face and wiped it hastily on his shirt anyway, his skin crawling, stomach twisting into a knot. The bitter, metallic taste of the blood was strong on his tongue, and he felt like he might be sick. God, he hated blood, what on Earth had possessed him to do that...

He had been ready to run off to the bathroom and retch, when he froze, tilting his head. Somewhere, in the recesses of his mind, he could have sworn...

Someone was laughing.

Ryou glanced around the room with a slight paranoia, halting his breath so he could 'hear'. 

The laughter - a quiet snickering, the kind that was always accompanied by a knowing, wicked smirk - quickly faded. Ryou shook his head firmly and forced himself to concentrate, trying to banish his nausea and disturbing thoughts by focusing on finding some clean clothes. He wrapped himself up so tightly in his task that he failed to hear the voice when it mused to itself again.

_Possessed indeed._  


*** 

It was becoming increasingly difficult for Ryou to concentrate in class. 

He'd been already halfway to school when he realized that he was still wearing the ring, and had hastily tucked it beneath his sweater. The cold metal and sharp points of the pendulum against his skin weren't very comfortable, not to mention that he just felt embarrassed to take such an ungainly, gaudy thing to school, even if no one could see it. 

There was still that odd buzz in his head. As he glanced around the classroom, it was almost as if he were hyper-aware of his surroundings. The bright fluorescent lights, the sound of the teacher's voice, the strange, garish clothes of his classmates - it was as though he were taking all of this in for the first time, leaving him in what should have been a constant daze. 

But he had far too much pent-up energy to be dazed. Ryou fidgeted restlessly in his seat, scribbled on paper, gnawed on his pencil - he had a nearly irresistible urge to simply go out and take a walk, eat a warm meal, or partake in some other mundane physical activity. It seemed like such a long time since he had done any of that... but that was ridiculous. Some strange part of him was filled with elation every time something brushed against his arm and reminded him of the sore scratches there - as if just to simply feel something again was a luxury, even if it was pain.

He was starting to seriously disturb himself. 

_Just now?_ He laughed at himself mentally, though it was tired and almost bitter. Anxiety crept across the back of his mind. That was _him_ laughing, right...?

The sudden blare of the bell did nothing to calm him down. He nearly jumped out of his seat, hurriedly stumbling to his feet and almost tripping over himself. He had always been clumsy, but today it seemed like he could hardly coordinate his legs, like he was vying for control with some...

_STOP IT!_ Ryou sharply reprimanded himself internally, but not without a note of desperation, clutching his head with one hand. He was certain he was getting some odd looks from his classmates, as if his ordinarily neat hair and clothes being ruffled and ragged weren't suspicious enough. They probably thought he was doing drugs. 

_No, just going crazy..._

At least school was nearly over. He managed to make it out into the hallway without bumping into anyone, despite the fact he felt off-balance whenever he stepped forward. How had things gone downhill so quickly? He had been almost happy last night...

He reached up, touching his sweater. He could plainly feel the round outline of the metal that lay beneath. It was the ring... it had to be. The fact it was so physically close to him just made things worse. He looked up, and realized his legs had taken him to his locker. Maybe he could stuff it in there, at least for the night...

As he fought with the lock, the hallways slowly emptied. Without so many people around him, talking, brushing against him, just being _near_ him and violating his personal space, he relaxed immensely. Ryou couldn't remember feeling so uncomfortable in crowds before, but nevertheless, he was finally able to concentrate enough to open his locker. He reached into the collar of his shirt and managed to wrangle the ring out from beneath his sweater, the pendulums jangling. They sounded almost angry as he started pulling the cord off of his neck...

_Behind you!_

He dropped the ring back against his chest and spun around, coming face to chest with two rather large upperclassmen.

"Well, lookit that. Now the prettyboy's got jewelry to compliment his hair," the dark-haired one sniggered, and the other inquired, "What cheap-ass dollar store did you pick that piece of crap up at?"

Ryou's lip twitched. He should have been scared, standing in their shadows, their broad forms blocking any attempt at escape. But more than that, he was just... _irritated._ Dangerously irritated. 

"I suggest you leave me alone. I have not been having a very good day," Ryou growled. In the back of his mind, he was starting to become afraid - but of himself. A look of slight surprise crossed his face, but it was quickly gone.

He didn't growl. His voice shouldn't sound like that. And he most certainly didn't threaten seniors that were football players. 

But the back of his mind was far away, and whatever - whoever - had taken center stage of his psyche was a far different person. 

And the prospect of being in a fight only _excited_ this twisted version of Ryou. 

"What was that?" The seniors' amused expressions became harsh glares. They hadn't been expecting him to threaten them, either. One looked to the other, "I say we break his new toy over his head."

Ryou felt his lips curl into an unbidden smirk. He lowered his head, and his hands seemed to raise themselves, beckoning the upperclassmen towards him. 

The taller of the two charged forward, lifting his fist in a wild swing. With the speed of a serpent, Ryou deftly avoided the attack, grabbing one of the senior's beefy arms and yanking him downwards. He watched his own hands in awe as they redirected the bully's forehead - and the full force of his attack - into the sharp, metal edge of the bottom of his locker effortlessly. There was a strangled yelp, and the senior slumped to the floor. 

The other upperclassman looked rather shocked and bewildered for a moment, before he snarled and rushed recklessly at the thin, white-haired boy. He was met with a sound kick to his stomach, and as he doubled over, Ryou kneed him in the throat. He tumbled to the floor, gasping for air and clutching his neck. 

"I warned you," the silky voice that was not his own reminded them smoothly, before its smug presence seemed to slip back into the shadows of Ryou's mind. The boy stood there, blinking dumbly and staring at the two fallen jocks. 

With a shaking hand, he took what books he needed out of his locker before closing the door. It didn't quite shut right, thanks to the new dent in the bottom - but Ryou was too busy running out of the school as fast as he could to notice.


	6. Part 5

**Author's Note:** Okay, guys, I'm sorry, this one is pitifully short since it's only one scene and it's mostly one-line 'paragraphs'. *sweatdrop* But hey, you got one earlier in the day, so.. =P As always, thanks for the reviews. n_n; I'll try and get around to reading some of you guys's's's's fanfics sometime and leaving some in return.

----

He didn't stop running until he was leaning against his closed front door.

Ryou panted, trying to catch his breath, before grabbing the ring roughly and tore it off, nearly breaking the cord. He tossed it against a far wall, where it landed with a jingle of its pendulums. That musical sound was starting to haunt his nightmares.

"I don't know what - who - whatever you are, but I'm sick of it!" He stood as far away from the ring as possible, sinking to the floor and huddling against the wall. "You're... you won't control me," he swore beneath his ragged breath.

The ring didn't reply, of course. But it had landed upright, and that eye was staring at him again, silent, apathetic, oppressive stare...

Ryou hugged his knees and looked away. It didn't help, though - he could still feel that golden gaze piercing his soul. It was patient - Ryou knew that. He knew that it knew that it could outlast and outwit this confused, scared boy. He tried to clutch his hands into threatening fists, but they were shaking too badly, clammy and weak. 

But they were _his_ hands again, at least. There wasn't some stranger controlling them, making him hurt people. Though some part of him had to admit that toppling those seniors so easily was strangely satisfying...

"No!" Ryou clutched his temples, grabbing fistfuls of his long white hair, "That's _you_ talking! Get.. get out of my head..."

His demand withered into an anguished, muffled plea. He could feel tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. Didn't he have it bad enough already?

_Really... is this so much worse than not existing?_

Ryou blinked his eyes, rubbing at them with his sleeve and looking up with confusion. That voice had spoken in his head sounded like the one that had taken over, the one that had so confidently dealt with the bullies... he stared across the room, back at the ring.

_I make you alive, boy. Without me, you would have continued on your miserable, incomplete existence for the rest of eternity._

"In... incomplete?" Ryou didn't know how wise it was to question the voice with the dangerous edge to it. But it was just a ring, right? What could it do to him, from across the room?

_Heh._

Ryou heard that smirk again.

_I am far more than this mere ring, and my powers extend beyond your wildest dreams. It's only your immense fortune that Destiny brought us together, and not some other force - I would have disposed of you long ago otherwise._

"Who... are you?"

_I am a thief and a stealer of souls..._

Ryou's forehead crinkled. That wasn't much of an answer, though he sort of expected something like that. He imagined any evil, haunted ancient artifact was going to be vague. "So, why don't you be done with it already?" He spoke in a low, embittered tone, staring at the floor. 

He sensed a slight confusion coming from the ring, and shook his head. "Steal my soul. Collect it, devour it, whatever you want to do with it. At this point, I really don't care anymore. I mean, look at me. I'm talking to some Egyptian souvenir. My mind's obviously far gone - someone might as well get some use out of my soul."

_I don't want your pathetic soul, mortal. There's no victory in stealing something so weak and broken._

Ryou bristled slightly, and tried to hold back the tears that threatened. His parents didn't want him. The people at school didn't want him. And now, not even this evil spirit wanted him. 

He felt far more wounded than he should have...

He could feel the ring sneering at him. _Stop whimpering. I never said I didn't want you._

Ryou blinked the tears out of his eyes and stared at the ring, not understanding.

_Let's just say you are... useful to me, and leave it at that. You have something I need._

Ryou's eyes widened in realization. "You want to possess me?" 

The sneer became mocking. _I thought you didn't care anymore._

"Just leave me alone!" Ryou tried to back away, but he was already flat against a wall.

_Boy, look around you. No one else cares if you exist. No one cares what happens to you. You are as good as dead and forgotten._

Ryou's shoulders slumped. To hear something else confirm his deepest, most painful suspicions felt like someone twisting a knife into his heart. All of the previous emotions he'd been cycling through were suddenly dulled, overwhelmed by bitterness and depression.

_Don't you suppose there's a reason Destiny has dealt you such a bitter hand?_

Ryou didn't acknowledge the ring. He refused to give it the satisfaction of knowing it made him cry.

_You were born to serve _me_. You exist for the sole purpose of being _my_ vessel, my way out of this damnable ring. You were born as a body, _my_ body, not a person._

Ryou tightened his shaking shoulders.__

Afterall... people_ are cared about, aren't they?_

Slowly, he stood up.__

You're nothing but an animated pile of flesh.

"Maybe," he muttered quietly as he walked towards the stairs. He passed the ring as he did, and he paused, looking down at it.

"But I'm not the one stuck in a piece of jewelry, am I?"

He 'heard' someone growling after him as he ascended the stairs.  



	7. Part 6

**Author's Notes:** Whew.. this part's pretty long. Well, compared to the other ones. The next chapter is the last one, though, so the end is nigh. ;_; Don't worry, though, I have another fic idea already in the works - another Ryou/Bakura centric one, too, but that one should be quite a bit more lighthearted, and maybe even shouen-ai-y.

**Reviewers**:  
*hoards reviews greedily* I love these things. n_n; Thanks for all of them, especially to my repeat reviewers, Kagahime, Marissa, and Sailor Comet. n_n; Heck, thanks just for reading this story. o_o; JudyNFran: They're dead? I thought that was just one of those common fan devices used to give Ryou yet more angst, and I wanted to do something a little different. o_o; Oh well. Like I said, anything I write is probably going to be a little different from cannon, since, well, I'm only familiar with the dub and I only have the first translated volume of the manga, aside from what I've found out online. ._.;;

I'm glad everyone liked Ryou's touché. n_n; And we finally get to _see_ Yami Bakura in this chapter, and Yugi makes a brief appearance as well. There's something I'm not quite sure about, though - the tomb-robber back in ancient Egypt really was named 'Bakura' too, wasn't he, and Ryou's like his decendant and/or reincarnation? Or am I confused? o_o; Either way, I'm going assume both are true for the purposes of this story, but I'd like to know if I'm misguided. @_@

----

Ryou surprisingly had no trouble sleeping, despite the fact it was the middle of the day. Depression always had a way of making him tired. 

He slept for what felt like ages, memories of the previous day juxtaposed with strange Egyptian imagery, of gleaming pyramids and monumental cities, where the stone was still white and free of cracking and crumbling, of a Sphinx that had a nose and the stylized beard of the pharaohs, of necropolises and tombs and the endless treasures that he knew lay within them, he just had to dig in the right place, corrupt enough of his fellow slaves and builders... 

The sound of his alarm awoke him, and he shook his head, blinking blearily. He was plagued with the kind of backwards exhaustion that came only from sleeping too long. He sat up, stretching his shoulders, rolling his neck and feeling the reassuring weight hanging - wait a minute.

Ryou looked down with a faint sense of dread.

Sure enough, there was the ring, hanging around his neck as though it'd been there all night. He blinked. Maybe it had been.

His memory of last night was sketchy, ethereal, and it seemed so off-the-wall that he was starting to dismiss the encounter as a dream. Yes, that would make sense. That would explain why the ring was still around his neck, and not downstairs like it should have been. Besides, rings couldn't talk. 

Ryou smiled slightly, relaxing. Just a dream conjured up by his overtaxed mind. 

But then... what had defeated the seniors so easily? 

Ryou didn't know how to fight. He was painfully non-confrontational. Did that really happen, either? His mind seemed fogged, and he was having trouble separating what was memory and what was a dream.

He tried to put it all out of his mind as he got ready for school. A Friday... Unlike most students, he actually dreaded the weekends. Going to school gave him something to do, made him feel somewhat useful, even if he was just another face in the crowd, another grade point average in the computers. 

On top of that, the weekend meant he would be alone with that ring.

Angora weaved around his feet, mewing plaintively. At least she didn't seem as disturbed by him as she had before. If only he could say the same for himself...

Once again, he had been well out of the house when he remembered he was still wearing the ring. He smacked his forehead. It seemed to fit him so well, be so comfortable around his neck, that it was quite easy to forget it was there and all. How could he feel so at ease around something that was driving him mad?

_You're not going insane,_ Ryou informed himself curtly as he tucked the ring beneath his shirt, _Stress just makes for vivid nightmares and bad memory. The ring is not haunted, and there are no demons or anything trying to possess you. Really, you've just turned seventeen, you're far too old to be having such wild, childish fantasies._

Setting himself straight, he continued on his way with a slightly clearer head.

And yet, for a brief moment, he thought he heard that faint laughter again...

***

Lunch time rolled around quickly. As always, most of the students were eagerly watching some heated duel, while Ryou prodded uncertainly at a gravy-soaked piece of meat that the school tried to pass off as Salisbury steak. Usually, he wasn't very fond of meat, but some part of his mind was salivating. After an experimental bite, he decided that it wasn't _so_ bad, and the sudden urge to wolf it down might have overwhelmed him, were it not for the cheering that erupted across the cafeteria.

He glanced over, just in time to spot a short kid being hefted up victoriously by his friends, as though he'd just won the world championship. Ryou knew of Yugi Muuto - it was hard not to, since he had become known throughout the high school for his dueling skills, not to mention his unique hair and diminutive stature. 

But it wasn't Yugi's hair that had caught his eye and suddenly captured his attention - it was the flash of gold around the short boy's neck. On a chain hung an inverted, gold pyramid that bore a stylized eye...

The exact same eye that his ring had.

But it was more than that - the recognition of the eye struck a cord deep within his soul. Somehow, he instinctively knew that what Yugi wore was related to his ring. And like the ring, it was far more than a mere piece of metal. Or pieces, rather. It was a puzzle, afterall.

Ryou blinked. How did he know that? It was too far away to tell it was anything but a little pyramid. And didn't he just get done reminding himself that the ring was nothing but a trinket?

But these questions were quiet, muted, forced to the recesses of his mind. Without realizing it, he had stood up, and was now walking towards the crowd forming around Yugi and his friends. What was he doing? He didn't have anything to say to Yugi, who already had plenty of people talking to him. Why did he want to get a closer look at that pyramid - puzzle - whatever it was so badly?

As had happened yesterday, though, his body was no longer his. Control had been swept away from him swiftly and easily as a rug pulled out from beneath his feet, and now he was sprawled out on his mental floor. He started to panic, but he felt as though he had been stuffed into a metaphorical corner, helpless and trapped. Before he knew it, he was standing directly behind Yugi, watching him modestly, shyly accepting all the praise. 

However, when the short boy turned around to face Ryou, a spark of inexplicable familiarity passed between them. Familiarity... and contempt. Not from Yugi, though, from something - someone - that lurked behind his eyes. 

They were both silent for a moment, and two schoolboys stood in quiet confusion as two far more ancient enemies made eye-contact for the first time in thousands of years. 

The taller boy spoke first. "Congratulations," he smiled a smug, somehow threatening smile. The part of Ryou that was trapped in the corner listened in disbelief. That voice...

"U-um..." Yugi faltered for a moment, before he managed to smile sheepishly, "Thanks, uh... sorry, what's your name?"

"You can call me..." the low voice that didn't belong to him almost purred, "...Bakura." 

An indiscernible look crossed Yugi's face, like he was listening to himself. Something about Ryou's last name seemed to make him - or was it someone else? - uneasy. But he quickly shook it off, "Well then, thanks, Bakura."

"That's an interesting trinket you have there," Ryou's hand lifted to his chin, and a knuckle was set against it thoughtfully, "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, my puzzle?" Yugi looked down and lifted the small pyramid up, "My grandpa gave it to me. He said it came from ancient Egypt! It took me forever to put together, but I really like it..." the short boy continued on, but Ryou - or rather, the voice - had stopped listening. 

"Egypt, you say?" The voice echoed, as though it wasn't already perfectly aware of that, "How _intriguing_." Ryou's face was smirking at some private humor that not even he was aware of.

"Yeah, weird, huh?" Yugi was still smiling that innocent, naive smile, and part of Ryou felt disgusted. Did the boy have any other facial expressions? 

The puzzle was so close, too. He could have _touched_ it. All he had to do was reach out, snatch it, and with a twist of his hand he could quickly choke or break the neck of this minuscule boy with the thick chain, and take the puzzle without a fight before - 

Terror gave Ryou's true mind the strength only the desperate have, and he willed his slowly lifting hand back down to his side, pinning his wrist down with his other hand for good measure. 

"Ex... excuse me..." he mumbled, backtracking shakily before turning and speeding out of the lunchroom, away from the puzzle, away from Yugi, away from anyone else he, the ring, the voice, whatever it was, could possibly hurt. He could feel all of the odd stares at his back, but he was too scared to care.

However, running was incredibly difficult when someone else was trying to take back control of your lower extremities. 

_Foolish boy! Haven't you that learned you can't fight me?_

The mental battle for each of Ryou's legs resulted in neither of them working properly, and he soon tumbled onto the hard, cold floor of the empty hall. He winced, but he managed to scramble to his feet, yanking the ring out from beneath his shirt and clutching it with white knuckles. 

"What _are _you?!" He demanded of it with a voice that threatened to break into a shriek, the pendulums jingling furiously as his hands shook. Ryou tried to catch his breath, staring down at the ring with wide, almost frantic eyes, looking for some sort of answer in the metal. His breath was robbed from him entirely as he finally noticed something in the polished surface.

His reflection stared up at him. That wasn't unusual, except -

His reflection was sneering at him.

Cold terror shot down Ryou's spine. Eyes which should have been brown were nearly red. Hair that should've been soft and layered was wild and pointed. 

_You haven't figured it out yet, have you?_

The reflection's lips curled back to reveal glistening fangs.

_I am _you.

Ryou took in the sight with disbelief, "N-no, it was just a dream, this is just a nightmare!"

_It wasn't a dream, child. Just look behind you if you want the proof._

Ryou almost didn't dare to do anything this ring said, but his body was being turned around for him before he could react. And there, looming over him, was... him.

It was him right down to his current uniform, but all of the soft, harmless lines that made up Ryou's person became hard and sharp. In every way that Ryou looked innocent and harmless, this figure looked sinister and deadly. He was even taller, somehow, and he stared down at Ryou with a wicked grin. 

"Speechless, are you?" the dark version of Ryou tilted his head, amused. Ryou stumbled as he tried to back away, looking around desperately for someone to help him. A teacher was coming down the hall in the opposite direction. He started towards her, about to call out her name, when cold, dead hands clamped down over his mouth and shoulder. 

Ryou made a muffled sound and struggled, but one of his flailing arms passed through where the spirit's chest should have been - and felt only frozen air. 

The teacher walked by him, offering only a slight, friendly smile to Ryou as she passed.

"No one's going to help you, weakling," the spirit hissed in his ear, "Afterall... you're the only one that can see me."

Horrified and confused, Ryou managed to spin around to face the spirit. Now he noticed that his tormentor was definitely translucent, almost dream-like. But those hands sure felt real enough...

"It's all in your head, my little vessel." The spirit of the ring responded to Ryou's thoughts, "I can manipulate your every sense. You can see, feel, and hear anything I please, because you're nothing but a useless, incomplete body." The spirit took a step forward, calmly folding his arms. "And you're _mine_."

Ryou couldn't bite back the soft whimper of fear that rose from his throat. He wanted nothing more than to run back home and throw himself into bed, and hope that maybe, somehow, that would wake him up, and end this nightmare. The spirit just smirked and strode forward, until he actually stepped _into_ Ryou's body with a cold wash of air.

_This nightmare is only beginning, boy..._


	8. Part 7

**Author's Notes:** Here it is, the final chapter. And to be honest? I'm not sure if this story has a happy or depressing ending. I guess it's kind of both. o_O Whether Ryou 'won' against his antagonist depends on whether you think of either Yami Bakura as the villian... or Ryou's loneliness.

I know this might seem to have an abrupt ending, but it was really only meant to be a prologue. The rest of the story is, well, what unfolds in the anime and manga, since as far as I know, we only meet Bakura after he has his ring and is somewhat familiar with his yami by then.

JudyNFran: Thanks for the info. n_n; This chapter will probably be one of the more off-cannon ones, since I made everything up, more or less. I'm probably not making Yami Bakura sadistic enough. o_o; And once again, thanks to everyone for all the reviews. Without them, I probably would've quit after the first chapter, since I had NO idea what direction this story was going to go in.

----

The rest of the school day had been hell for Ryou. The spirit kept appearing out of the corner of his eye, or in place of a student in the desk beside him, in the back of the room, or even sitting on the teacher's desk. He never said anything, and never stayed for long - he just watched Ryou and smiled one of his sadistic smiles. 

Ryou knew he was being taunted, toyed with, that the spirit was trying to break his soul and drive him insane, to wear him down until he just rolled over and gave up. And frankly, it was starting to work. He had been mulling - or maybe the spirit had been making him mull, planting suggestions, how could he tell? - over things the ring had said earlier. It all seemed to make too much sense, in some twisted way. 

Was that the definition of insanity? When things that never should make sense, start to seem like obvious logic? It was difficult to make the transition from being painfully alone to being constantly plagued by a haunted ring, a voice, a spirit, a split personality, whatever it might be. His mind might not survive, no matter how he struggled. But who's to say it wasn't gone already...?

As school was let out and Ryou walked home, he kept his eyes to the ground so he couldn't see the spirit walking with him, stalking him, trailing him, or wherever it chose to be. And some small part of him wondered...

...did he really mind the attention all that much...?

Disgusted with himself, he shook his head violently as if to dislodge the quiet thought, and picked up his pace. Every time he felt a chill wind blow by, he was certain the spirit was right there, beside him. He started to hug himself for warmth, but that only pressed the cold ring up against his chest, and he abandoned the idea. 

Ryou certainly didn't want to give into the ring, but what could he do? He had the sneaking suspicion that the spirit wouldn't let him take the ring off, and if he did, it would just end up back around his neck somehow. He doubted he could even toss it off a bridge or into the gutter, because the spirit would probably just do some sort of illusion to only make him _think_ he got rid of it - and then later on, happily inform him otherwise. 

_You're starting to get it._

Ryou was starting to feel painfully crushed as he wearily pushed open the door to his house. He sank down on the futon and hung his head. He felt, quite literally, defeated.

He sensed a presence beside him, and a quick glance told him that the spirit was sitting on the other end of the futon. He wasn't surprised, but new fear gave him a spark of life when he realized Angora was over there, and the spirit was reaching for her -

"Leave her alone!" Ryou sat up and snapped, ready to attack the spirit and stop him, even if he knew he could do nothing against something that wasn't really there. His darker half just stared at him with a quirked, unimpressed eyebrow, and Ryou blinked dumbly as he realized the spirit was petting the cat.

Angora purred happily, which only made Ryou more confused. "I thought only I... The ring scared her before..."

"_Mau_ are far more in tune with the world around them than these idiot humans. And I imagine the ring would. It is, afterall, filled with evil magic. But me?" The spirit smirked, "To her, I'm just you." 

Ryou didn't know what to make of the scene - a spirit he had pegged as a homicidal psychopath, calmly stroking a purring kitten. "That's right, you're Egyptian," Ryou reasoned, "you probably worship cats or something."

The spirit growled and glared at Ryou, "Religion was for the upper class. I desecrated their temples, their tombs, even their mummified bodies to take their gold and jewels. I spit in the face of all their curses and their very _gods_. Egyptian superstition means nothing to me."

"You're a ghost, trapped in a ring, and you don't believe in superstition?" Ryou wondered incredulously.

The spirit lowered his head, his red-brown eyes boring into Ryou. "The power of the Shadow Realm and the Millennium Items are far bigger than Egypt alone, boy."

Angora hopped down off the arm of the futon and curled up in - well, _through_, actually - the spirit's lap, and he continued on his previous note. "There was always food offerings set out for the corpses in their tombs, and while they can build a tomb impregnable by a human, there's nothing a mouse can't get into. And where there's mice... there are cats." The spirit smiled one of his smug smirks, "I found that cats could show me hidden entrances and holes into tombs in places no human would think to look."

Ryou didn't seem entirely convinced, and the fact that his cat, his only friend, was within the spirit's clutches worried him. 

The ethereal tomb-robber snorted. "You think me a common, bloody-minded murderer, who would abuse anything with my reach? Please."

"You wanted to kill Yugi!"

The spirit snickered. "Perhaps I got a little over-enthusiastic. It's been a long time since I saw another Millennium Item." He shook his head. Ryou remained uncertain, and only got more confused, assuming the ring and Yugi's puzzle were some of these 'Millennium items'. Or maybe he knew that because the spirit did - it was impossible to say.

"I kill if it will help me accomplish my goal, but I don't care enough about you mortals' worthless lives to make a point of snuffing them out. I didn't when I was alive, and I don't intend to make a habit of it now." The spirit turned and looked at the blank television, narrowing his eyes. Despite the display, Ryou got the idea that the spirit of the ring enjoyed talking about himself and his exploits.

"You could have fooled me," Ryou muttered. 

"That doesn't seem terribly difficult," the spirit deftly replied with a falsely sweet smile. "Oh, I never said I _disliked_ blood and violence. But people are missed more than their valuables are. Rarely will they seek out revenge against a stolen good - they're far more apt to simply cut their losses and move on, to try and just build a better tomb for the next pharaoh, put a more threatening curse on the entrance. Leaving a bloody trail would only make my stealing more difficult.

"In short, your cat is in no danger." The spirit leaned back against the futon, which Ryou could see through his back. The Egyptian spirit scratched Angora between the ears, "It's yourself you should be worrying about."

Ryou lowered his head, tucking his legs up against his chest. The whole scene felt very... strange. Here was this ancient spirit of a tomb-robber from Egypt, boasting to him, correcting him, insulting him, threatening him, all while petting his cat. Now that the spirit was 'out', as it were, he seemed far more talkative than he was before. 

But then, Ryou guessed it had been a long time since he had talked to anyone, just like it had been a long time since Ryou had been talked to. It was an... interesting conversation, at the least. He was almost... _almost_ starting to enjoy this.

"Why me?" He finally asked in a quiet, whispering voice, breaking the odd, nearly amiable silence that had settled between them. "I know... you said you were me, but aside from appearance, I really don't see how. We're nothing alike."

"You might almost say we were light and dark," the spirit smirked at another one of his private jokes, "It's simple. We share more than appearance and name - we share blood. You are my descendant."

The spirit - Bakura, Ryou guessed he was called, though it was odd to think of calling someone by _his_ surname - glanced around the foreign treasures that decorated the living room. "I was the king of thieves in my time - naturally, I passed this down and it ran through the veins of all of my descendants. But part of my _punishment_ -" he glared down at the ring that Ryou wore, "was that I could only be released by the first one of my descendants that _lacked_ my darkness. In other words... the only one that wasn't a thief."

"My father isn't a thief!" Ryou said defensively, scowling, and the spirit just chuckled.

"Oh? Look around you, you fool. He steals from tombs and sacred sites just as eagerly as I did when the treasures within them were new." Bakura folded his arms. "And I'm sure it's no accident that my escape from the ring coincides with the release of another spirit from another item - in this very same city, in fact." The spirit's face seemed to darken, and a slight smile came over his lips. "The shadow games will begin again..."

Ryou didn't really like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of anything Bakura was saying, but it did make sense, and that's what made him so uncomfortable. Apparently, there was far more to this than simply one haunted ring - it involved ancient Egypt, magic, spirits, some sort of nightmare realm, mysterious items - who knew what else. He felt understandably intimidated, and it did seem to be quite inevitable that he _was_ born just to serve this spirit. He was just a pawn in something bigger than he could imagine.

But as he pondered Bakura's words, he wondered over what he had said about lacking darkness. He had called Ryou incomplete before, afterall. Maybe Bakura was his dark side, to understate things. But then...

"You're incomplete too," Ryou blinked, murmuring his realization. Bakura looked over at him with a scrutinizing glare. "Eh?"

"You said I was useless because I was incomplete," Ryou stumbled over his theory, "A light without a darkness. And you... you're a darkness without a light. It doesn't have anything to do with stealing or games - I bet that's the real reason destiny brought us together."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Bakura snarled, turning to face him, his metaphorical hackles bristling. But the very fact that the spirit was so ruffled indicated the Ryou was on the right track. The boy stared up at him with a knowing expression.

"You're right, you do need me, but as more than just a body to live in. You can't really get rid of me, can't you? You can manipulate me... but you still need me." Ryou smiled ever so slightly. Someone needed him...

"Idiot mortal! I can, and I will!" Bakura swore, before throwing himself at - and _through_ - Ryou, swiftly taking utmost, total control of his body, making him stand up and clench his fists painfully tight. "You're nothing but my vessel, and I will make sure you know that as long as you exist! I'll wear you down until your mind dies! _You'll never have a moment to yourself again!_"

Ryou let himself be pushed into the corner of his mind once again, and he might have withered at the crimson rage of the spirit, at his shouting and oaths, if Bakura hadn't said that one last thing. The repercussions didn't enter Ryou's mind. The shouting, both mental and vocal, was muted out.

He must have been crazy and desperate. Maybe he was starting to get Stockholme syndrome. He just didn't know, and by now, he wasn't sure he particularly cared.

All he heard was someone saying they'd never leave him alone again.

Ryou sat back in his little corner of his now shared mind.

_You promise...?_

----

**Final Notes:** I'm think I'm going to savor the satisfaction of finishing this for a day or so before I start posting the next one. x_X But I dunno, reviews are pretty addictive... Anyway, some definitions. I'm pretty sure 'mau' is the Egyptian word for cat. Stockholm syndrome is a psychological condition where the victim starts to sympathize with/befriend/fall in love with someone who's horribly wronged them - a rape victim falls in love with their attacker, a hostage comes to enjoy the company of their kidnapper, etc. Ryou seems to get it in a lot of fics. c_C; 

I'm glad you guys have enjoyed my first attempt at YGO fanfiction, and I hope I was able to keep everyone in character. Yeah, the whole entire reason I put Angora in here was for the scene near the end. Yami Bakura certainly starts to get talkative towards around then, I know - but judging by what I've learned of what he was like when he was alive, he was pretty cocky and full of himself, I think he'd leap at the chance to brag to someone for the first time in thousands of years. I know I would, if I were the world's greatest and prettiest tomb-robber. @_@ 

I did a little research in a book I had about mummies and tombs just for this fic. Yes... I'm pathetic. ._. I pulled the thing about cats and mice off the top of my head, though, so that might not be entirely accurate. o_o; Oh well. I doubt many Egyptologists are gonna read this.

The next fic will involve Ryou and his yami being divided into seperate bodies - another common concept, one that almost seems a given in fanfiction, but I wanted to try and make this one work within canon. I'm pretty sure it'll be silly and possibly full of fluff - it'd be the first time I wrote shouen-ai fanfiction, so wish me luck. XP 


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